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Throughout Tallen Prior’s childhood, he always had trouble hearing. He remembered his mother, Leslee, often calling him from the living room. When he didn’t respond, she yelled louder, but Prior didn’t hear anything.

“The whole time, I thought I had perfect hearing until they told me I didn’t,” Prior said. “I just thought that was normal, the hearing I had.”

Leslee and her husband, Justin, never knew what was wrong with Prior. He’d had trouble with his ears since he was 4. Prior often developed ear infections, had trouble speaking and sustained ruptures in his eardrums that caused them to bleed. To address his ear problems, Prior went through multiple surgeries. In addition, his tonsils and adenoids were removed, but it didn’t seem to help.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that Prior was diagnosed with cholesteatoma, an extremely rare hearing disease in young children and more common among men over 50. The disease causes conductive hearing loss and affects roughly one out of every one million children. In Prior’s case, doctors revealed to him he lost 90% of his hearing.

Despite Prior’s condition, he’s shined playing football, basketball and baseball for Phoenix High School. The disease dissolved two of Prior’s three hearing bones, meaning he only hears certain tones without the help of his hearing aid. Still, it hasn’t prevented him from pursuing athletics.

“I wouldn’t say (cholesteatoma) gives me an extra sense of competitiveness, because it’s just normal to me,” Prior said. “I’ve always been competitive … I want to beat you until we win if I lose.”

Leslee said Prior’s competitiveness in sports was always there, especially with his three brothers and sister. Before one of Prior’s Pop Warner football practices, she recalled his reaction when he broke his arm after jumping on the trampoline.

“I was like, ‘Oh, no, you’re going to the hospital, that’s broke,’ and he was like, ‘No, we’re going to practice,’” Leslie said.

Prior’s early competitiveness has carried over to high school, where he gets up regularly at 5 a.m. for his summer offseason workouts.

Now in his senior year, that dedication has paid off. He’s the starting quarterback for Phoenix and has led the Firebirds to a 6-2 record and the top seed in its Section 3 Class C/D2 Tournament.

Prior has excelled as a dual-threat passer, totaling 12 touchdowns with 417 passing yards while leading the team with 736 rushing yards. He can’t hear the crowd or his coaches on the sidelines, but they’ve devised a system that allows him to receive play calls. Phoenix’s coaches send a player who runs over to Prior, stands up close and delivers the play call.

On the basketball court, Prior is the same type of player. He’s been a double-digit scorer during his two years on varsity and earned All-League honors each season. He translates his speed on the gridiron to the hardwood, where he often makes hustle plays and is the first back on defense.

His speed and playstyle are something Leslee has grown accustomed to. But she said that the same mentality and dedication that made Prior want to go to practice after breaking his arm sometimes still astonishes her.

“He went up for a block or something like that and flew completely up in the air over the kid, and I thought he was going down on his head,” Leslie said. “I bolted down the stairs but he got up and started playing like it was nothing.”

His playstyle drew the attention of his coach, Nick Perioli, who decided to bring him up from junior varsity early. Perioli said Prior can be counted on to do a little bit of everything.

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“He’s kind of a stat sheet stuffer. You can look down the line and see 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals,” Perioli said. “Teams can always use guys like that, and I usually stick him on one of the other team’s best guards to shut them down.”

Along with his parents and his coach, Prior has a strong relationship with his baseball team, who he referred to as “family.” It holds a literal meaning for him. His uncle, Kaiden McNabb, and brother, Trevor, who also plays football for Phoenix, are on the team. McNabb, who Prior has played with since Little League and remains close with, is also a senior this year.

“We’re friends, so it’s not like uncle-nephew, right? And I’m bigger than him,” Prior said. “I’m center field, he’s left field. We know when each other are gonna catch the ball, it’s kind of a connection we’ve made throughout it.”

The connection with his team helped him through his cochlear implant surgery last May, completed during the baseball season. Initially ruled out for at least three weeks, Prior missed just one week, receiving early clearance from doctors. In 15 games, he batted .363 while racking up 20 strikeouts over 12.1 innings of pitching following the surgery.

His fast recovery earned him the 2024 Male Comeback Player of the Year honor at the All-CNY High School Sports Awards Show. With the bulk of his surgeries behind him, Prior has now turned his attention to competing in college.

“I always knew he was going to play some type of sport in college,” Justin said.

For now, Prior is undecided about his next step. But whether or not he ends up playing sports, he’s already defied the odds since his diagnosis.

“I’d say my biggest motivation is just wanting to see the best version of myself,” Prior said. “I want to make my parents proud.”

Published on October 31, 2024 at 12:12 am

Contact Henry: hdaley@syr.edu